Ever With Thee
by Ceiphied Knight
Summary: Takes place just after the finale. Moe French/Sir Maurice comes to a particular realization about his daughter, and goes looking for her. Rumbelle and some father/daughter fluff.


**Ever With Thee**

"Ever with thee I wish to roam —

Dearest my life is thine.

Give me a cottage for my home

And a rich old cypress vine,

Removed from the world with its sin and care

And the tattling of many tongues.

Love alone shall guide us when we are there —

Love shall heal my weakened lungs;

And Oh, the tranquil hours we'll spend,

Never wishing that others may see!

Perfect ease we'll enjoy, without thinking to lend

Ourselves to the world and its glee —

Ever peaceful and blissful we'll be."

-Virginia Poe

* * *

Moe French was creating a lovely flower arrangement for Ruby, ordered for her Granny's birthday, when the curse broke.

It took just seconds for his real memories to overlap with his Storybrooke memories. It took a few more seconds for him to sort them all out.

His name was really Maurice. He had been the ruler of a small duchy of three villages. Two, not counting the nearly-decimated village of Avonlea.

It took about five seconds for him to realize who Mr. Gold really was, and another two seconds to realize why the man had bludgeoned him with his cane on Valentine's Day.

It had been over Belle.

Maurice frowned, searching for any Storybrooke memories of his daughter. He found none.

That was when he decided to walk right through his own restraining order, and go pay a visit to Mr. Gold.

* * *

Belle was still reeling from everything that had happened in the past two hours.

She had found Mr. Gold, as ordered. He'd looked at her in a way no one ever had in her entire life. As if she were the most amazing thing he'd ever seen.

To hear him tell it, that wasn't far from the truth.

Then she'd followed him into the woods, knowing that she couldn't bear to watch him walk away without her. Not that he'd given her much choice, since he also couldn't bear to be without her again for more than the time it took to use the restroom.

After everything she'd been through, she still loved him. She could have yelled or screamed or blamed…but it seemed such a waste when all she'd wanted for the longest time was just to _tell him again._

She'd flinched a bit as she'd said it. Only because of what had happened the last time. But this time…this time was different. He'd made sure of that. This time he'd embraced her and told her the words that she'd longed to hear.

_"And I love you, too."_

But now that they stood just inside the doorway of his Storybrooke home (a pink house, really?) she felt her temper flare just a bit. They were going to have to have a long talk, and soon.

Belle opened her mouth to speak, to begin the tirade that had been forming on their way back from the forest, but was interrupted by Rumplestiltskin shutting the door a little harder than necessary, then slamming her back against the wall…not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to make her gasp into his mouth as it found hers.

They kissed in a way that made their peck back at the Dark Castle look like child's play. Their mouths opened and closed over each other, their tongues battling for dominance. Belle had never kissed like this, but it felt as natural as breathing when one hand reached up to grasp his hair, and the other slid down and grabbed his ass, gripping him and pulling him even closer.

Rumplestiltskin ground his hips into her, and she felt something else that she was unfamiliar with, yet recognized all the same.

"Upstairs," he moaned into her ear, and that was the last coherent thought either of them had for quite some time.

* * *

Maurice knocked, and knocked, and knocked. He shuffled his feet and twiddled his thumbs. He used the meaty side of his hand to knock even harder.

Still nothing.

He had tried the shop first, but the pawnbroker was no where to be found. The sign was flipped to 'closed' and all of the lights were out. It was rather late, so Maurice wasn't terribly surprised.

But the imp had to be home, he just knew it. There was a dim light coming from what he assumed was the living room window, and a brighter one in an upstairs room which he assumed to be Gold's bedroom.

The longer the former monarch stood on Rumplestiltskin's front porch, the angrier he became.

What had become of his daughter? On that freezing night, in the woods, Gold had acted as if she were dead…

Finally, he'd had enough. Sheriff Swan be damned. Restraining order be damned.

Sir Maurice kicked in Mr. Gold's front door.

* * *

Belle and Rumplestiltskin shot straight up in his large bed. Belle clutched his navy blue sheets around her, and Rumplestiltskin actually looked frightened.

"Have they come already?" he whispered.

"Who?" Belle hissed, clutching the sheets tighter.

Her lover got out of bed and threw on a nearby robe, then grabbed his cane in one hand and a small pistol in the other.

"It could be any of them," he answered. "Regina, Emma, the Prince, Snow White…none of them will be very happy with me right now."

Forgetting the fact that she hadn't been too happy with him earlier, herself, Belle shook her head and vehemently choked out, "No! No, they can't hurt you! I won't let them!" She stood, rather awkwardly, and grabbed his dark dress shirt from the foot of the bed and began buttoning herself into it.

"You stay here!" He nearly yelled, fear for her safety making his accent thick and his tone sharp.

Belle finished buttoning the shirt, but nodded and sat at the foot of the bed. She watched as he crept out into the hallway, her heart threatening to pound out of her chest.

* * *

Rumplestiltskin let out a sigh of relief when he saw it was only Moe French. Surely the man had it in for him, but at least Belle would be safe.

"Rumplestiltskin!" the man barked, "Where is my daughter?"

"Not your concern," the former sorcerer snarled at the florist.

"Papa?" came the timid female voice from the top of the stairs, and Rumplestiltskin closed his eyes and counted to three.

"Belle," he said, gently, "I told you to stay upstairs. I have everything under control."

"Don't you give orders to my daughter like she's your property!" screamed Maurice. "You kidnapping, foul, horrible beast of a man!"

Rumplestiltskin cocked an eyebrow at the man, and Belle actually had the gall to giggle.

Maurice was seeing red, but his vision cleared when his daughter came down the stairs wearing nothing but a man's shirt (obviously one of Gold's) and stopped on the same step as the man himself, pressed close to him and with a hand laying lightly on the arm that gripped a small handgun.

"Papa, please," Belle scolded, "that's not very nice. You just broke into the man's house."

"For the second time," Rumplestiltskin spat, causing Belle to furrow her brow at him.

"Care you explain, Mr. French?"

Maurice growled up at the man, who was looking more impish than he ever had in their current land.

"I'll explain why I broke into your house after you explain to my daughter why you beat me within an inch of my life!"

At that, Belle gasped.

"Rum, is that true?" she whispered into her lover's ear.

"Well, yes," he said, almost sheepishly. "But, in my defense, I thought he'd killed you. And he stole that cup you chipped."

"The one from before? The one you always drank from? You kept it?" Belle couldn't hide the smile in her voice.

"Belle, you can't be serious!" Maurice complained, ignoring the whine in his voice.

Belle left Rumplestiltskin's side, though her hand stayed upon his arm until she simply couldn't reach him anymore.

"Papa," she said, gently, approaching her father, "You have to understand. I love him, and he loves me. It's True Love. Believe me, I understand why you wouldn't approve, but that's the way it is. He'll keep me safe."

"Oh, yeah?" Maurice said, frowning, "You'll be safe when everyone in town remembers who he is and the things he's done in both worlds, and comes for his head?"

"That…I won't let that happen," Belle said, but she sounded unsure.

"He's probably older than I am!" her father continued, getting louder with each point as to why she shouldn't love the man standing on the stairs.

"Oh, much," Rumplestiltskin said with a wicked grin.

Belle rolled her eyes and called over her shoulder, "not helping!"

To her father she said, "That doesn't matter with us. You see, back in our land, I kissed him and his curse began to break. It was True Love's Kiss. But he couldn't afford to lose his power at that time, so he told me to leave. Yes, he should have explained things _then, _but everyone makes mistakes. Even the Dark One."

Then Belle turned and looked at the slight man standing a few feet behind her. He saw himself as old and lame…he saw all of the mistakes he had ever made. But Belle saw all of his good intentions, and all of the mistakes he aimed to fix. She saw a handsome man who once spun straw into more gold than he could ever spend.

And in that moment, Maurice watched his daughter look at a man he had considered to be his enemy and smile, and saw his enemy look back at his daughter with the softest expression he had ever seen…the florist realized that it was all true. They loved each other. For whatever reason, his beauty had fallen in love with the beast.

"Well," Maurice said, awkwardly, breaking the moment. "I guess I'll just…leave you to it, then."

He kissed his daughter on the cheek, nodded at Rumplestiltskin, then took his leave.

"Huh," Belle said, "that was rather odd."

She felt her lover's warmth behind her just before he wound his arms around her waist. "Your father…he's a good man. Not the sharpest tack in the box, but a good man nonetheless."

She playfully swatted at him, then followed him back to bed.

They would rest, eventually. But for now, they needed to get their fill of each other. Because the battle wasn't over yet. In fact, it was only just beginning.

**The End.**


End file.
